The term 'compassionate conservatism' goes back a few years: So President Clinton thinks Governor George W. Bush lifted his trademark "compassionate conservatism" from the president's New Democrat philosophy (Wash. Times July 9)?. As far as I know, the term originated with Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs. A brilliant chemical engineer and entrepreneur, he first mass-produced penicillin during World War II and later built one of the world's largest engineering companies. Brooklyn-born, of Lebanese-Christian heritage, he expounded his philosophy in his book "The Compassionate Conservative" a few years ago. He wanted to demonstrate that conservatives are just as compassionate as liberals but have a better way of helping people in need. Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" with the best of intentions, but it accomplished little and created a culture of dependency. "Self-esteem" was to be bestowed from the top down; but that never works. Instead, as Dr. Jacobs writes in a recent article, dignity of the individual is the touchstone of compassionate conservatism. Not just general benevolence mixed with condescension, but providing the tools and incentives to achieve independence and pride. In fact, he has now turned the words around, preaching "conservative compassion" in order to emphasize the difference between conservatives who foster individual initiative and liberals who seek to increase the role of government. George W., take note!
S. Fred Singer
From Washington Times, July 23, 1999, page A20

Fickle climate thwarts future forecasts: "Researchers trying to predict the side effects of future climate change are > finding themselves the modern-day heirs of Sisyphus, straining toward a goal that forever slips out of reach. A new projection of conditions in Europe for the year 2050 indicates that natural shifts in climate can greatly complicate the forecasting task and will make it nearly impossible in some cases to tell whether greenhouse warming is having any clear effect..." From Science News, February 27, 1999, page 133.

Former Clinton Consultant Dick Morris advises Al Gore on his campaign strategy: "Of course Gore can't dump on Clinton, but he should distinguish himself by returning to his original theme of the environment and global climate changes. Recent weird weather throughout the world makes his gloomy predictions seem more appropriate than they have ever been. By talking about his old passion, he will develop a welcome animation and remind voters of his life before Clinton. In 1968, Nixon harnessed each day's crime headlines to make law and order the basis of his national agenda. In 2000, Gore must use the fires in Florida, the mudslides in California, the floods in Texas, and the droughts in the Mid-west to show Americans the pressing necessity of action in the face of global warming. Global climate is changing. If the consequences of this shift are as dire as predicted, the environment will become the issue of the next decade. With the millennium, voters are in a mood to think in planetary terms and Gore could be just the man to make the issue work." Commentary by Dick Morris in the New York Post, March 2, 1999.

Voluntary extinction: "...the hopeful alternative to the extinction of millions, possibly billions, of species of plants and animals is the voluntary extinction of one species: Homo sapiens...us. Each time another one of us decides to not add another one of us to the burgeoning billions already squatting on this ravaged planet, another ray of hope shines through the gloom. When every human chooses to stop breeding, Earth's biosphere will be allowed to return to its former glory...Good health will be restored to the Earth's ecology...to the life form known by many as Gaia. It's going to take all of us going." From "About the Movement," on the web site of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (www.vhemt.org), quoted in the Washington Times' "Culture, et cetera," March 3, 1999.

Point of View: Green on the Outside, Red on the Inside: ...as far as I am concerned, the real trouble began when defense of the environment was transformed into a political issue. The Green Party has now appeared within us. In the recent municipal elections, several "green" candidates were elected (note that green might also denote a lack of experience in politics), and they are continuing their efforts in the elections to the Knesset. Experts in Western European poltiics will tell you that there are heads of government who used the green path to obtain their objectives. I have a problem with this issue, since for some reason a passion for ecology is identified with the polticial left, as if to say: "green on the outside, red on the inside." Perhaps the basis for this is the feeling of global cosmopolitics at the root of the ecological movement, which would seem to be the opposite of nationalism, and also the fact that it is based on the concept of the global village. These themes are well represented in the leftist press both in the world and in Israel. And there is another problem, which I feel is even more serious: the ecological approach is turning into a new religion. It has prophets and priests, preachers and followers, and even is own rituals. I cannot shake the feeling that there will be a temple built in Germany, which will become the basis for their manifesto... From a comment by Rabbi Yisrael Rozen of Israel in Parashat Beshalach, No. 737 (January 30, 1999) Orthodox Judaism newsletter distributed on the Internet.

US nun with ecology message denies atheism: Like an adolescent, the human race thinks it can do what it likes and may end up destroying Earth, says a visiting American nun who denies a claim that she is an atheist. Humans acted like cancer cells devouring the host - ozone depletion, global warming, genetic deformities and deforestation were symptom of that, Sister Miriam MacGillis said in Wellington yesterday. The issue was not theology but what was happening to the planet. "The Church is almost silent in the face of this awesome evil." Theologian Fr George Duggan of Silverstream wants the country's Catholic bishops to speak out against Sr MacGillis, who is in New Zealand presenting seminars on ecology and spirituality. He says she is a "new age" nun who threatens the faith of Christians by preaching pantheism - a fancy word for atheism. Sr MacGillis denies being a pantheist (regards God as identical with the forces of nature) or atheist and is not aware of the bishops taking any action against her. "I can't think how anyone who grapples with the mystery of life and the dynamic universe can be an atheist. I've never subscribed to the view that it has happened by chance. "God is the ultimate mystery out of which everything comes. For people who fear what I say it would be helpful if they would do the scientific exploration into the stars and atoms - I'm teaching science not theology." Judeo-Christian beliefs were one way the mystery of God and the universe was understood. "But every culture has its images for this mystery . . . we need the wisdom of all human traditions to provide a fuller understanding of it." A Dominican, Sr MacGillis is co-founder of a farm in New Jersey dedicated to developing self-sustaining agricultural ecosystems. She spoke in Wellington this week on a new way to view the world and a new look at religious life. News item from The Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand) February 19, 1999

Scientific 'research' too polluted at the EPA: There is something inherently dishonest about researchers eagerly accepting government grants and then refusing to disclose the underlying data supporting their conclusions to the people who funded the enterprise: the American taxpayers...That dishonesty becomes institutionalized when federal agencies use the "scientific" conclusions based on the hidden data to justify new regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become particularly adept at this game. By passing out grants to a coterie of "usual suspects," who can be counted on to produce results following the EPA's preconceived regulatory agenda, the agency has found a way to circumvent standard scientific procedures and expand its writ in the process. The seriousness of the problem was recognized by the EPA's own Science Advisory Board, which in a landmark 1992 report, "Safeguarding the Future: Credible Science, Credible Decisions," found that: "EPA should be a source of unbiased scientific information. However, EPA has not always ensured that contrasting, reputable scientific views are well-explored and well-documented from the beginning to the end of the regulatory process." Where all this can lead was underscored by a group of EPA employees who, in a letter to The Washington Times in June, alerted the public that "EPA regulations and enforcement actions based on poor science stand to harm rather than protect public health and the environment" ("Blowing the whistle on EPA's widespread abuse," June 10). How does the EPA react to such internal criticism? Of the 13 EPA employees who signed that letter, six have been forced to leave the agency. Better to hide the data than to tolerate the truth. Bonner R. Cohen, senior fellow, Lexington Institute, in a Letter to the Editor of the Washington Times, February 13, 1999.

Where's global warming now?: I would like to know where are all the high-priced environmental consultants, tree-huggers and doomsday preachers who are so worried about the warming trend of Alaska. Right now, I would suggest that their end-of-the-world theory is total nonsense and they should be sent packing to another part of the world that will listen to their nonsense. Quite frankly, I could use a dose of global warming right now. Letter to the Editor by Bob Egan, Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, February 13, 1999.

Warming trend: "We take no pleasure in seeing people across North America stuck in airports or stranded in their cars. Or shovelling snow when they've never had to do it before. Yet, that's what's been happening from coast-to-coast as the winter that wasn't supposed to be suddenly whips Canada and the U.S. So much for the global warming experts..." Editorial, the Calgary Sun, Canada, January 5, 1999

Global warming, we hardly new ye: "The unseasonably warm weather of recent months had made us forget the predictions that this would be a bad winter. And we were just starting to believe the theory of global warming..." Editorial, The Toronto Star, Canada, January 6, 1999.

France basks in freak spring-like weather: Agence France-Presse wire service reports meteorologist Dominique Escale as saying the mild weather was related to an anticyclone bringing warm winds from the south rather than the overall global warming of the planet. Agence France-Presse, January 6, 1999.

Our odd and deadly weather; What's going on? Global warming? Or los ninos?: We had it, or saw it, all: floods, tornadoes, fire and ice storms. Trains toppling off railroad tracks warped by weeks of 100-degree-plus heat in Texas. Four hurricanes spinning at once, 10 tropical storms born in little more than a month. The warmest and wettest January and February on record in the United States, the hottest July on record for the entire world, the warmest year on the whole surface of the Earth since the beginning of temperature records in the 1400s. More than 32,000 people killed, 300 million displaced, $ 89 billion in losses around the globe. All from disasters caused by weather. Is this how global warming announces itself and claims retribution for burning fossil fuels and leveling forests? Or did we just get caught in a nasty family tug-of-war between a robust El Nino and La Nina? "Of course, we have natural variability, but that doesn't account for what went on," says Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "We don't have definitive answers, but there is reason to believe this is part of the signals of global warming we may be seeing." Baloney, says Jerry Mahlman, director of NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab at Princeton. "There's no bad guy out there," Mahlman insists. "Basically, we're getting jerked around by the same stuff that's been jerking us around for a long time." By "stuff," Mahlman means El Nino and La Nina, those fickle phenomena that alternately heat and cool the Pacific Ocean waters near the equator and thus determine where winds will blow and rain will fall. Scientists agree that they are the direct causes of this year's bizarre heat in Texas, fires in Florida and hurricanes in the Caribbean, and that they probably have more unpleasantness in store for 1999. But not all scientists are ready to blame global warming and greenhouse gases for the antics of El Nino and La Nina. "A lot of the topsy-turviness is an impression born of the fact that weather in the news has gotten a lot sexier than it used to be," Mahlman says. "Everybody's interested in it. You hear more about weather far from where you live than you used to. . . . Everybody has a heightened sense of weather as something that can get you." News article, Palm Beach Post, December 31, 1998

New England ski resorts blame global warming for slow start: Little snowfall and unseasonably warm temperatures cause Blue Hills ski operator Stanley Beers to remark "It don't get much worse. I've never believed too much in that global warming thing, but I'm starting to believe in it now." Associated Press wire report, December 29, 1998.

Cold kills more than 700 Americans a year, CDC says: headline from Nando Times on-line, December 10, 1998

Dollar Days: The next time you see a sign that reads "Your Tax Dollars at Work," remember this. The administration is contracting with consultants to the tune of $398 to $600 a day to prepare seminar charts, write magazine articles, and talk to reporters. Now, we'll skip commenting on why this work isn't done in-house by salaried employees and instead just give a few examples for others to judge from a list of 38 shown to Whispers. The Council on Environmental Quality paid $100,000 to a consultant to pull together its annual report. It also paid another consultant $160,000 to create maps and graphs for the annual report. The Office of National AIDS Policy paid a consultant $65 an hour to help the AIDS czar reach out to the media. And the Office of Science and Technology Policy paid a writer $4,000 to pen an article about White House global-warming policy. From "Washington Whispers," U.S. News & World Report, November 9, 1998

Whale of a dispute: Beset by joblessness, drug abuse and despair, a small northwest Indian tribe has decided that there is hope in heritage. Like their tribal ancestors, the Makah Indians want to hunt a handful of gray whales--five of them annually--both as a way of restoring cultural pride and of putting food on the table. They have gotten an exemption to a worldwide whaling ban. They have the permission of the U.S. government, to say nothing of an 1855 treaty that recognizes their claim. And they have been training for months in preparation for the hunt from their canoes. The biggest problem, however, may not be the whale, of which there are thousands. A flotilla of animal-rights activists has boated into town, complete with a Norwegian-built submarine painted to look like a whale and a...speaker system designed to scare off any of the tribe's targets. Apparently the activists have plenty of sympathizers because the tribe has received threatening calls and insults in response to its plans. Said one Vermont letter-writer, "So much for the 'We love the earth, peace, harmony, etc.' What garbage. You people ought to stick to welfare. Your culture--what a joke." The bewildered tribe said it had not expected such attacks, even in these politically correct days. "They are completely misrepresenting what is a very meaningful tradition, something that is centuries old," one woman told the New York Times. "The question should be, what's the fuss all about? America is supposed to be about the acceptance of different values." That's right. But these days, if certain people don't like what you're going to do in your canoe, they deploy their submarine. Wonder how long they'd last in a fair fight? Editorial, the Washington (DC) Times, October 4, 1998.

Something else to worry about: People are killed or injured every day commuting to perform work they could now do from the safety and security of their own homes. Most employers still place people at unnecessary risk by forcing their employees to commute. Employers should now embrace telecommuting. Telecommuting represents a *very* effective means to improve public and worker safety and health. Telecommuting, in fact, represents the most simple, effective, and inexpensive means available today to increase traffic safety, save lives, improve health, and enhance our quality of life. Quality of life is enhanced by reducing accidents on our already congested highways and city streets. Telecommuting prevents disabilities and deaths that deprive our children of optimum family life, protection, and security. You can start saving lives, now, by strongly encouraging more people to telecommute. (E-mail promotion of a forthcoming book "SAFE AT ANY SPEED," describing the "health and safety" benefits of telecommuting. Sent addressed to "State and Federal Incumbents and Candidates" by the authors Rick Johnson and Manjusree Sen of the Telecommuting Safety & Health Benefits Institute), September 28, 1998

Groups Oppose Air Treaty: (TOPEKA) -- "Groups representing agriculture and industry in Kansas are speaking out against a proposed multi-national treaty to fight global warming. The Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Industrial Council sponsored a forum in Topeka yesterday to voice their objections to the Kyoto treaty. The treaty would call on the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years by seven- percent... compared to 1990 levels. But farm and industry groups say that would hurt the Kansas economy... and threaten thousands of jobs in the region. Both Kansas U-S Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts say they oppose the treaty." From Kansas Headlines, Thursday August 27 5:25 AM EDT

Politicized Science and Its Supporters: "These groups know the huge task that awaits them in overcoming industry resistance and winning ratification of the Protocol. They also know the economic arguments against Kyoto are politically powerful--workers losing jobs, higher prices for everything from food to fuel--but are betting that citizens in cities hovering just above sea level or farmers not wanting to move their farms to Canada will become allies once targeted. 'We need to raise the potential cost of doing nothing,' commented EDF legislative director Steve Cochran, 'whether it's Florida and a rising sea level,' the 'impact of global warming on a shortened ski season in New Hampshire,' or 'shifting crops from Nebraska.' So don't be surprised the first really hot week in July when you see foundation-supported climate experts taking to the airwaves to tell you that in the future it's going to be like this ALL THE TIME. " From "The Global Warming Debate Heats Up," by Daniel McKivergan, Philanthropy magazine, July/August 1998.

Storm scenario for 2100: havoc on Mass coast: "New England appears likely to dodge the worst of Hurricane Bonnie, but if sea levels continue to rise as a result of global warming, the destruction wrought by future storms could wipe out many seaside oases, according to a sobering animation released yesterday by an environmental research group. The video, produced by the National Environmental Trust, suggests that a three-foot rise in sea levels - which could happen within 100 years at projected rates - would make the $1 billion in damages from the last big hurricane to hit New England, Bob in 1991, seem trivial by comparison. Edgartown, where President Clinton sailed with Walter Cronkite earlier this week, would be almost completely submerged beneath the storm surge, while low-lying locations such as the South Shore and Cape Cod also would be inundated, causing massive erosion." From the Boston Globe, news article by reporter Scott Allen, Friday, August 28, 1998

Global Media: "Perhaps the most powerful tool for the supporters of Kyoto will be segments of the media, particularly television. Its vivid images and sound-bite editing combined with its global reach are a powerful tool to shape public opinion. That's why foundations interested in climate change have awarded large grants to foster 'better news coverage of climate change' and conduct 'media-education campaigns.' Take the ABC News special, 'The Apocalypse and Al Gore,' aired in April. Trumpeted as a serious look at global warming, what viewers got was a network ignoring readily available scientific evidence countering specific parts of the global warming theory." From "The Global Warming Debate Heats Up," by Daniel McKivergan, in Philanthropy magazine, July/August 1998.

How Diehard Advocates Manipulate Public Opinion on the Environment: "Environmental popularizers fill so many functions it is difficult to find one word that adequately characterized them. They act as scientific researchers, radical politicians, moral prophets, aesthetic judges, social critics, historical analysts, technical experts, and prognosticators. For each great environmentalist author there may be hundreds of experts who know more about a given subject or have thought and written more profoundly about it. But they do not bring to that subject the same accessibility and sense of urgency as does the popularizer." From "Start Spreading the News" by Charles Rubin in Philanthropy magazine, July/August issue.

The W. Alton Jones Foundation's Environmental Scare Tactics: " [Our Stolen Future] was underwritten by the foundation from conception to its splashy national promotion...To promote the book, Jones enlisted Environmental Media Services (EMS). a PR firm headed by former Gore staffer Arlie Schardt (EMS shares space with the prominent public relations firm Fenton Communications, which helped manage the earlier scare over the growth regulating chemical Alar for the Natural Resources Defense Council). EMS rolled out a major PR campaign that included a national book tour, an appearance on NBC's Today show...and multiple press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington. Favorable coverage appeared in nearly all major newspapers, magazines, and television networks. And when one major science journalist--Gina Kolata of the New York Times--expressed skepticism about the claims made in the book, the Environmental Information Center (Now the National Environmental Trust, which also received Jones funding) bought a quarter-page ad on the Time's own editorial page to denounce her. The environmental lobby now plays hardball." From "Leading the Charge," by Ronald Bailey in Philanthropy magazine, July/August 1998.

No Confidence: A Detroit Free Press poll asked voters: "If Clinton doesn't finish his term, how much confidence do you have in Vice President Gore's ability to lead the country as president?" Only 35 percent said they have "complete" or "a lot" of trust in Mr. Gore's ability. Even among Democrats, 46 percent of respondents rated their confidence in Mr. Gore as "little" or "none." From: The Washington Times "Inside Politics," August 27, 1998

Clinton camp is splintered on next step: "... Clinton is still weighing whether to cut into his vacation next week for public appearances. One idea would have him go to Woods Hole, Mass., on the mainland just across from the Vineyard, to talk about climate change..." Washington Post, August 20, 1998

Greenpeace occupies oil rig to protest oil exploration: Greenpeace activists occupy the Deepsea Bergen oil rig off Norway's coast. Greenpeace Nordic director Per Stenbeck said "Given that we can afford to burn no more than one quarter of the known reserves of fossil fuels -- oil, coal, and gas -- without risking dangerous climate change, we cannot continue to explore for new oil." Agence France Presse, August 20, 1998.

Greenpeace International income down, again: The total worldwide income of Greenpeace fell in 1997 by $14.3 million to $125.6 million but due to more efficient fund raising methods, the group was able to increase spending on campaigns by $9.5 million. Excerpt from: "Environment faces crises in coming years, Greenpeace says," August 13, Reuters/Nando.net

Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll: "Despite Gore's warnings, only 24 percent [of Americans surveyed] blame high heat on global warming; 43 percent think it's just a bad summer." WSJ: Washington Wire, Page 1, July 31, 1998

Swiss Firm to Cease Production of Pellets to Sterilize Women: The manufacturer of the entire world supply of quinacrine pellets, used to chemically sterilize women in developing nations, said it will no longer make the pellets. The decision by Sipharm Sisseln AG, a closely held firm based in Sisseln, Switzerland, follows a page-one article in The Wall Street Journal about the use of the pellets to sterilize more than 100,000 women in about 20 countries. The June 18 article reported instances in which quinacrine sterilizations were performed without women's knowledge or against their will. Quinacrine sterilizations aren't approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are opposed by women's groups and the World Health Organization, which says quinacrine may be likely to cause cancer. Two American contraceptive researchers, purchasing their supplies from Sipharm, are the sole distributors of the substance world-wide. Responding to Sipharm's decision Thursday, the two Americans, Elton Kessel and Stephen D. Mumford, said they will seek another supplier and will continue their campaign to distribute quinacrine in developing nations. They said that, judging from data they have gathered from human testing abroad, quinacrine is a safe, effective means of controlling the world's population growth. Quinacrine has been most widely used in Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Chile. Excerpt: The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 1998

Ruckus Society runs camp for protesters; '90s spin control replaces '60s chants. In the good old days, political activists simply clenched their fists and marched to the cadence of a protest chant. But this is the '90s. Now, well-tempered activists must offer sound bites with their sit-ins and practice spin control as they chain themselves to the gate of the nuclear power plant. This they learn at camp--Action Camp, that is, sponsored by the Ruckus Society, a California group bent on retooling hippie-era activism into slick civil disobedience for the millenium. Sixty earnest activists from around the country descended on a Virginia farm this week for a "Human Rights" Action Camp, which schools them in the art of confrontation, not to mention media manipulation...This is the ninth action camp since the society was founded three years ago. Others have included an "eco-warrior" boot camp for women only and international human rights camps, which attracted participants from nine countries. The camp costs them nothing, but applicants are nevertheless heavily screened to root out anyone with dubious intent. This week's camp, which cost $30,000 to stage, was funded by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Friends of the Earth, and three other groups, including the Reebok Foundation, of athletic shoe fame. Excerpt: June 20, 1998, The Washington Times, page A-4.

Sterilization Pellet Exports Cited: Two Americans hoping to curb population growth and limit U.S. immigration have distributed chemical pellets used in the irreversible sterilizations of more than 100,000 women in poor countries, The Wall Street Journal reported today. Quinacrine sterilizations are not permitted in the United States because of questions about their safety and effectiveness, including a possible cancer risk. Nearly all major family-planning organizations, many foreign governments and the World Health Organization oppose their use. But, the newspaper said, that hasn't stopped Stephen D. Mumford of Chapel Hill, N.C., and contraceptive researcher Dr. Elton Kessel, who are the only distributors of quinacrine pellets in the world. Operating their not-for-profit organization on a tiny budget, Mumford, 55, and Kessel, 79, pay for quinacrine's manufacture in Switzerland, arrange for its free distribution in about 20 countries and mobilize a network of doctors, nurses and midwives to administer it. Mumford, who calls his organization the Center for Research on Population and Security, believes quinacrine is a means of curbing world population and reducing the potential number of immigrants to the United States from developing nations. He relies in part on anti-immigrant forces in the United States for financial backing, the Journal said. Excerpt: June 18, 1998, Associated Press wire story out of New York City.

An URGENT Message From Climate Action NOW!: It is with tremendous grief and new levels of anguish that I send you this notice. In 12 years, 40% of the world's current forest cover GONE! Unimaginable! Stunning! Hell on Earth! All we have to do is look to the great equatorial regions of the world, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, and even up to Siberia above the Sea of Japan and breathe deep the darkening gloom to know how this could happen in a matter of a "few" years. This very year, or in the next one or two, the Siberian Tiger and Orangutan could become roasted into oblivion, into extinction. Yet fundamental economic and energy conversion actions aimed to protect our nation and the rest of the planet from catastrophic climate crisis are discussed and enacted nowhere by our government leaders... The industrial machine marches on, the factories close, the toxins increase, and we in the U.S. release more carbon dioxide than we ever have before. A 20% increase under Clinton/Gore alone. NOT ONE LAW has been passed by the federal government in response to "the Greenhouse Effect." NOT ONE! Just more freeway construction, and crappier fuel efficiency. Football "heroes" still sell 4-Wheel Drives while we numbly watch the video of these vehicles trashing through our wildlands. 5,000 pedestrians killed walking in crosswalks every year while our attention is directed to a "War on Drugs" with enormously fewer casualties. Excerpt: June 14, 1998 e-mail message received from Andy Caffrey, Director, Climate Action NOW!, Redway, California

Yesterday's rainstorm was just one of the disastrous effects of global warming, a visiting international expert said. The bird flu, red tide and mad cow disease are also symptoms of the greenhouse effect, according to Shen Sin-yan, director of the Global Warming International Centre in the US. Dr Shen is in Hong Kong for the 9th Global Warming International Conference and Expo. From "Rainstorm a side-effect of global warming," the Hong Kong Standard, June 10, 1998.

The global warming [Bill] McKibben dreaded in 1989 has "become a fact," he writes. (regular).. Lowering the birth rate might even help resolve America's immigration problem, making room for the current flood of immigrants, or perhaps stemming that flood, because an America embracing "decline" would no longer perpetuate the illusion abroad of boundless opportunity. "Getting smaller, taking a step back - these notions have their own quiet glory." From "Baby's Center of the 'One' Worldview," review of Bill McKibben's new book Maybe One by Robert Braile, Boston Globe, June 3, 1998.

Oregon company hit with largest penalty ever under Clean Air Act: Louisiana-Pacific Corp. pleaded guilty Wednesday to pollution violations and agreed to pay $37 million in penalties, including the biggest criminal fine in the 28-year history of the Clean Air Act...The company also was ordered to donate $500,000 to environmental groups. Associated Press, Denver, May 27, 1998

Environment watchdog blasts Ottawa: Canada's environment watchdog has blasted the federal government for failing to live up to its targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and industrial pollution. Brian Emmet, commissioner of the environment, made the charge in a semi-annual report released today [May 26]. He says the government does not have a real plan of action to carry out promises on global warming made at the Kyoto conference last year...Emmet, whose office was created by Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government to keep a campaign promise, says the environmental assessment system is not working. He says there is no lack of ideas to protect the environment, but these are "undermined ... by a lack of action." He says that over the past decade, greenhouse gas emissions in Canada have been going up rather than down, and by the year 2000 they will be 11 percent above the government's target. Excerpt, United Press International, May 26, 1998

Salton Sea Disaster: The Salton Sea here in California is a major enviromental disaster and the situation will only get worse unless organizations like yours bring this out in the open and make it known to the public that the runoff from the farms are killing off the fish and game in and around the Salton Sea. The fish have died off at 10 Million a day, and the Brown Pelican is being killed also. When the fish and birds are gone, then will the people do something? Then it is too late, I think we have reached that point to demand action by Congress before all is lost. Thank you for your interest and time. Respectfully submitted, Norman Grimsby (e-mail message broadcast by environmental activist, May 16, 1998. Question: What is the total number of fish in the shallow, brackish, landlocked 266-square-mile Salton Sea?)

White House not letting public see warming papers: Documents include objections. The White House will not allow the public to see documents revealing the serious objections raised by Clinton economic advisers to the global warming treaty, top officials testified yesterday. Janet Yellen, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, dismissed private forecasts predicting millions of job losses and skyrocketing utility bills and prices at the gas pump as a result of the sharp energy and greenhouse emissions cuts required by the treaty. In testimony before the House International Relations Committee, she said the administration sticks by its forecast that the damage will only be "modest," but she declined to provide any of the econometric models or other materials documenting that conclusion requested by several members of Congress... The Washington Times, May 14, 1998.

Gore Reaches Out to Business and Wall Street Interests: He speaks today at the Detroit Economic Club, which includes auto officials cool to his emphasis on emission curbs to avert global warming. He will tout the strong economy, noting, "the Rust Belt is now the Renewal Belt." He hopes to replicate his relationships "with the high-tech community in the industrial heartland," a Gore official says. Gore seeks help on his speech from Clinton's top economic advisers: Treasury chief Rubin, his deputy Lawrence Summers and Economic Council head Gene Sperling. To make his views better known to wary Wall Street execs, Gore and former Goldman Sachs co-head Rubin met in New York recently with a small group organized by Lazard Freres's Teven Rattner. Wall Street Journal, May 8, 1998.

Heat Debate: A group led by former State Department climate-change expert Eileen Claussen will be unveiled next week to push Clinton proposals to curb global warming. The group, backed by $5 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts, includes such concerns as Boeing, Toyota and British Petroleum. Wall Street Journal, May 8, 1998.

Global Warming Smear: ...the NET [National Environmental Trust] was conceived in 1993 as the propaganda wing of the Pew Charitable Trust, the biggest environmental grant maker in the country. At the time, NET's founder, Joshua Reichert, a Pew environmental director, noted that he wanted NET to be a "war room" on environmental issues. His ideal project leader, Mr. Reichert said, was James Carville. "I don't want someone who knows the facts or can articulate them persuasively. I want someone who wants to win and knows how." To this end, the NET has unabashedly cultivated journalists, government officials, religious leaders and even children's advocacy groups. In the week before the Kyoto negotiations, NET, according to its own internal documents, ghost-wrote seven op-eds, including one for Kenneth Lay, chief executive officer of Enron Corp., a company that produces natural gas. Enron favors cuts in carbon dioxide emissions because they would disproportionately burden its competitors in the fossil fuel industry... Detroit News editorial excerpt, April 30, 1998.